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 | Big Ben and Parliament, taken from the London Eye. London, UK April 6, 2006 |
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« Al Lutz: The Goods On DCA | Main | MousePlanet's Disneyland Update » October 22, 2007Canceling ClearwireWhen Elaine and I moved in to the our place last April, we switched our Internet service provider from Comcast to Clearwire. This was driven by a number of considerations, not least of which was that a) getting cable Internet at our place was going to be an involved process, b) I'm no fan of Qwest (Seattle's incumbent telco), and c) Clearwire was new, friendly, and easy to order. So we gave it a spin. We were initially delighted with the service - generally very speedy and reliable - but over the past couple of months we've watched Clearwire's service quality go downhill and stay there. Connection speeds vary wildly, often becoming glacially slow; other times, the service will be fine, but then drop for anywhere from 20 seconds to 5 minutes. I've phoned Clearwire support a few times about this, and, ultimately, their answer is "wait five minutes and try again." Since the service is delivered wirelessly, they don't have lines to check or physical plant they can manage. Instead, the tech guys are stuck prescribing the usual "reboot your equipment", "try moving the location of your modem," or "wave a dead chicken over the device" routines. (At one point, the guy on the other end of the phone tried to blame my Apple equipment. Uh, no. Note to Clearwire support: it's not 1996 any more.) The problem didn't get better, and, as the slow service was now preventing us from curling up on the couch and watching Heroes via streaming video, that was that. We made arrangements for alternate Internet service, got it installed, tested it, found it fine, so and I called Clearwire this weekend to cancel. Or, at least, tried to cancel. They say that you can learn a lot about a society by watching how it treats its prisoners, and I believe that you can also learn a lot about a company by how it treats is ex- or soon-to-be-ex customers. In my case, I blew a good 50 minutes on the phone, waiting on hold to cancel my account. By the time I finally got to someone who could do the actual cancellation, he informed me that he was "concerned" about me canceling because it meant that I would be charged a $160 cancellation fee. Uh, er, no. No, that's not right. See, when I signed up for Clearwire, one of the things I expressly asked the sales clerk about was a) contract length, and b) cancellation policy. I hate contracts with a passion, and, if I'm getting in to one, I want to know what I'm on the hook for. She explained that they sell Clearwire in two flavors - the 1- or 2-year contract - and that signing the 2-year contract gets you goodies like a free modem, $25 VISA gift card, and things like that. Cancellation can be done at any time, but you're on the hook for the balance of your contract to the tune of $10 a month. Thus, if, like me, you have a one-year contract, use six months of it, and cancel, you owe $60 for the balance. But now they're telling me $160. I'm not thrilled about cancellation fees in general, but I knew the score when I got the service. I'm OK with paying them the $60; it's what we agreed. But Mr. Clearwire Termination Department doesn't see it that way, so, once I explain the terms that were explained to me by the salesperson, he launches in to this, "Well, sir, I have no idea why you would have been told that, as that's not our policy..." Translation: "We think you're lying." So then I explain to Mr. Clearwire Termination Department that I have these terms, you know, in writing, because the nice lady at the sale kiosk wrote them down on my order form. Funny how fast the tone of a conversation can turn around. Termination Department wants me to fax him a copy of the paperwork; I look at my calendar (Saturday), look around me (I'm at home) and explain that I'm nowhere near a fax machine because it's the weekend, and I'm at home. Fine. I can mail it in. So I then proceed to blow another 15 minutes writing a letter to Clearwire, making a photocopy of my paperwork, putting a stamp on it, and then shipping it off to Las Vegas. I'm annoyed. Totally, totally annoyed. Glad that I have the agreement in writing, of course, but still annoyed that this is how they play the game. Searching the Internet for other customers reveals similar stories. Wonderful. Stay tuned. (Interesting fact: Clearwire's automated hold system actually says, "To cancel due to connection issues or speed problems, press 3." Wow. I wonder how many people are grappling with these issues?) Posted by Gavin Shearer at October 22, 2007 7:41 AM. Posted to Geek. CommentsWhat? Technical support and customer service is going down the tubes? You're kidding, right? I'm shocked, I tell you, shocked! Posted by: Richard Barrett Seriously, you're shocked by this? Startups need their customers as a way to maintain cash flow. All the financial models used to acquire capital are based on maintaining an estimated user base. If a user can easily abandon the company, attrition rates during initial rollouts (when there are most likely to be operating kinks) would almost certainly sink any new venture. As a self-described early adopter of technology who was more than willing to take it on the chin when Apple screwed you out of $200, don't you feel that it's a little irrational (and inconsistent) to have such distaste for your experience with Clearwire? ;) Posted by: briangaither Post a commentThanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out) (If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. 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